Cloudways vs Netim: guide for 2024

Cloudways vs Netim: Final verdict

Comparing Cloudways and Netim, each hosting provider shines in different areas, catering to diverse user needs.

• 
  Cloudways (Overall grade: 8.5)
  
  excels in performance, scalability, and support, making it a premium choice for developers and businesses. Its managed cloud hosting offers several advantages including advanced caching mechanisms, SSD hosting, and vertical scaling options, facilitating great website speed and reliability. The platform supports multiple cloud infrastructures like AWS and GCE and provides comprehensive security features such as free SSL, two-factor authentication, and dedicated firewalls. Although Cloudways does not offer shared hosting, domain registration, or standard email hosting, its user-friendly control panel, collaboration tools, and proactive customer support ensure seamless server management and high satisfaction.
• 
  Netim (Overall grade: 6.9)
  
  stands out with affordable shared and WordPress hosting plans along with GDPR compliance. It offers flexible email services and a user-friendly control panel, ideal for individuals and small to medium-sized businesses. Despite its limited performance optimization features compared to Cloudways, Netim provides reliable SSD storage, essential security measures, and a clear commitment to data protection. Its customer support, albeit not available 24/7, is multilingual and well-regarded by users. While the platform lacks advanced caching and does not support complex development tools, its affordable pricing and simplicity make it suitable for users seeking straightforward hosting solutions.

Hosting types offered

Both platforms provide a variety of hosting types, each designed to meet the different needs of users.

Although both offer a variety of hosting plans tailored to different needs, in
certain cases, one platform may prove to be more suitable.

Detailed comparison

🏆 Winner Cloudways: Delivering unparalleled uptime and performance, Cloudways stands out as the leading hosting provider.

Cloudways offers exemplary service for developers, small to medium businesses, and larger enterprises with a standout uptime record. Boasting an uptime of 100% in 2020 and 2021, and a slight dip to 99.99% in 2022, it competes head-to-head with top industry players. Its managed cloud hosting, combined with a user-friendly control panel, enables easy management of servers and applications. Beyond uptime, Cloudways shines with rapid server response and optimized performance metrics.

Although Cloudways does not provide domain registration or email hosting, it compensates with 24/7 support and various performance optimization features like built-in caches and an optimized stack. Additionally, multiple cloud infrastructure options, such as AWS and GCP, elevate its service’s flexibility. With pricing models starting at $11/month, Cloudways remains an optimal choice for those seeking reliable and high-performance cloud hosting solutions.

🏆 Winner: Cloudways: Offers superior performance with advanced caching and vertical scaling options.

When it comes to performance, Cloudways outshines Netim significantly. Cloudways employs SSD drives that are three times faster than HDDs, integrates advanced caching mechanisms like Memcached, Varnish, Nginx, and Redis, and operates on an optimized stack including NGINX, Apache, MySQL/MariaDB, and PHP-FPM. In contrast, Netim offers SSD storage across its plans but lacks such comprehensive caching options, which affect load times. Cloudways also benefits from integrated Cloudflare Enterprise CDN services, whereas Netim’s plans don’t mention any built-in CDN options. Furthermore, Cloudways boasts multiple data centers globally, enhancing performance and reliability.

Website Speed

Cloudways delivers exceptionally fast website performance. Its SSD hosting combined with advanced caches ensures minimal page load times. With PHP 8.2 ready servers, it handles high traffic effortlessly, while auto-healing servers guarantee uptime. Netim offers SSD storage, but its limited caching options and lower PHP memory limits hinder its speed. Cloudways also offers built-in Breeze WordPress cache plugin, adding to its website speed advantages.

Scalability

Cloudways excels in scalability with vertical scaling options, allowing for the dynamic adjustment of resources like RAM, CPU, and storage. This makes it easy to accommodate high traffic and growing websites without needing plan upgrades. Additionally, Cloudways supports 1-click actions for tasks like backup and cloning. On the other hand, Netim’s plans seem more rigid, requiring manual upgrades as businesses grow. The cost and availability of automatic resource scaling for Netim are unknown.

🏆 Winner
Netim: Provides robust security features and comprehensive GDPR compliance.

Both Cloudways and Netim have notable differences in their approaches to technical and operational
security, as well as in their compliance with regulations.

Technical security measures:

Cloudways and Netim both offer strong technical security measures, but they differ in certain aspects. Cloudways provides free 1-click SSL certificates, supports PHP versions ranging from 5.6 to 8.2, and boasts notable features like dedicated server-level firewalls and automated protection mechanisms such as Fail2ban and bot protection. Netim, on the other hand, includes Let’s Encrypt DV SSL certificates by default and offers a variety of Sectigo certificates for additional security, including insurance policies for online transactions. Netim also supports the latest PHP versions, up to 8.3, and provides services like DNS Anycast and Web Application Firewall (WAF) to enhance security further.

Operational security measures:

Cloudways offers several sophisticated operational security measures such as two-factor authentication (2FA), IP whitelisting, and automated protection features like bot protection and DDoS mitigation powered by Cloudflare Enterprise. It also includes tools like vulnerability scanners and regular security patches. Netim, with its focus on two-factor authentication and login alerts, also ensures robust protection against unauthorized access. Their anti-DDoS services, file recovery options, and domain theft protection highlight their operational security strength. Netim’s antivirus and additional Sectigo certificates provide an insurance policy, improving user confidence in transaction security.

Compliance and certifications:

Both hosting providers show a strong commitment to compliance. Cloudways utilizes infrastructure from cloud providers that are PCI-DSS compliant at the hardware level, although it does not claim full PCI compliance itself. While GDPR compliance is likely, it is not explicitly confirmed. Netim guarantees 100% GDPR compliance with all data hosted in France, emphasizing privacy and data protection. Netim also implies some level of PCI compliance through its safety and insurance policies associated with Sectigo certificates.

🏆 Winner Cloudways: A powerful, feature-rich hosting provider ideal for high-performance websites.

When comparing Cloudways and Netim, the most noticeable difference lies in the scope and depth of features offered by each provider. Cloudways excels with its performance-focused infrastructure, including SSD hosting, built-in caches like Memcached and Redis, and an optimized stack that supports PHP 8. Apart from high-speed performance, Cloudways boasts strong scalability with its flexible pay-as-you-go model and vertical scaling options. It also offers one-click tools for backup and restore, website cloning, and team collaboration, making it a highly user-friendly option for developers and businesses requiring advanced customization and team management. Cloudways also has extensive website security measures, including dedicated firewalls and two-factor authentication.

Netim, on the other hand, keeps things simple and straightforward, primarily focusing on ease of use. It provides SSD storage and ensures unlimited traffic, which is ideal for websites expecting fluctuating traffic volumes. The user-friendly control panel, Netim Direct, allows users to manage their hosting effortlessly. However, it lacks several advanced features found in Cloudways, like integrated caching mechanisms or a staging environment for testing changes before going live. Additionally, while Netim includes SSL certificates and a rolling seven-day backup period, it falls short in offering complex customizations and advanced development tools.

Both providers support a range of users from beginners to experts with user-friendly website builders and WordPress staging areas. However, in terms of developer tools, both Cloudways and Netim offer robust options including SSH access, support for multiple programming languages, and Git for version control, thus appealing to developers looking for advanced capabilities.

Email services:

Cloudways offers email hosting through Rackspace and Elastic Email, catering to both transactional emails and campaign needs. Netim’s email services vary by plan, from 1 email address to 250 addresses, making it suitable for small to large-scale email requirements. However, there is no mention of support for third-party email services.

🏆 Winner Netim: Offering a comprehensive range of affordable plans with exceptional features.

Evaluating the pricing of plans among various hosting providers can be complex due to their differing pricing and renewal strategies. Additionally, certain plans require annual commitments, which adds to the difficulty of making comparisons. The prices listed are based on monthly commitments; plans requiring annual commitments are indicated. Additionally, although some providers offer identical plans for WordPress and shared hosting, we have created separate tables for each to enhance clarity.

When comparing Cloudways and Netim, it is clear that both providers offer a variety of hosting plans for different needs. Cloudways provides extensive cloud hosting options tailored for WordPress, eCommerce, and various cloud infrastructures like AWS and GCE. Netim, on the other hand, offers more budget-friendly shared hosting and WordPress plans with comprehensive features at competitive prices. Both providers excel in their domains, but Netim stands out for its affordability and flexibility, especially for small to medium-sized businesses.

Enterprise plans

Cloudways offer extensive cloud solutions, particularly their AWS XL and higher plans, which range from $285.21 USD/mon to $3569.98 USD/mon, designed for high-performance needs with significant RAM and processing power. Netim is more focused on affordability with their Premium option at €9.00 Excl. VAT/mon, providing comprehensive features for multiple websites. The choice depends on whether a business needs scalable cloud resources or multi-site management with optimized costs.

🏆 Winner: Cloudways: Offers simplified setup and extensive support features for seamless website management.

Cloudways provides an intuitive and user-friendly control panel that is tailored for both technical and non-technical users. The control panel is simple to navigate, offering 1-click actions for tasks like backup/restore, website/server cloning, and launching various applications. This makes managing servers and applications straightforward even for beginners. On the other hand, Netim offers a control panel known as Netim Direct. While it is also user-friendly and includes settings for renewals, security, domain name management, and hosting, it may not be as polished or feature-rich as the Cloudways control panel for more complex operational tasks.

Cloudways features pre-installed Git, SSH, and SFTP access, making it an excellent choice for developers who need to securely access servers and update files. The free staging URLs provide a robust environment for testing and development before going live. Netim, while offering a clean interface and the convenience of pre-installed CMS options like WordPress, may appeal more to users focusing on simpler setups and who do not need extensive developer tools. While both platforms provide ease of use, Cloudways’ comprehensive set of features and scalability options give it an edge in terms of flexibility and functionality.

When it comes to migration tools, Cloudways offers free migration for the first website from any web host, saving users time and effort. This service is particularly beneficial for those who want a hassle-free transition to a new hosting provider. On the other hand, Netim provides an email migration tool to facilitate the copying of emails and folders to a new address. While useful, this is not as comprehensive as the site migration service offered by Cloudways, giving Cloudways a clear advantage in this category.

Cloudways’ Help Center provides a centralized resource with articles, guides, a ticketing system, and 24/7 live chat support. The platform also benefits from an active community of experts and offers advanced and premium support add-ons. Netim’s help center similarly offers a range of documentation on domain names, hosting, emails, SSL certificates, and developer modules. Although available support from Netim’s customer service runs from 8am to 6pm (UTC +2) Monday to Saturday, it does not match the 24/7 availability of Cloudways.

🏆 Winner
Cloudways: The user management system of Cloudways allows for the creation of custom roles and specific permissions, providing greater flexibility and control tailored to the needs of developers and agencies.

When comparing user management features, Cloudways clearly stands out by offering comprehensive tools to manage user roles and permissions within the WordPress admin panel. Cloudways allows admins to define specific roles such as Super Admin, Administrator, Editor, Author, Contributor, and Subscriber, each with distinct permissions. This flexible role creation enables precise delegation of tasks and access control, ensuring team members only interact with areas necessary for their roles. In contrast, Netim lacks detailed information on user role management, making it difficult to gauge its full capabilities in this area.

In terms of user interfaces and tools for managing users, Cloudways enhances user experience through direct access to the WordPress admin panel, both via the URL and the Cloudways Platform. This dual-access method ensures seamless entry into user management sections. The WordPress admin panel interface is intuitive, providing straightforward options to add, edit, delete, and change user roles. Netim’s lack of specified tools and interface details hinders an in-depth comparison, leaving Cloudways as the more transparent option.

Evaluating access control measures and scalability, Cloudways shines with its structured user roles and dedicated team collaboration features. By allowing admins to assign different levels of access, Cloudways offers an effective way to manage a growing number of users efficiently. This structured approach ensures that large teams can work within defined roles without security issues. While details on Netim’s user management scalability are absent, Cloudways’ clear hierarchies support efficient expansion and user organization.

Cloudways user roles table:

🏆 Winner
Cloudways: Superior customer support options and proactive monitoring set Cloudways apart.

Cloudways boasts a highly accessible customer service with 24/7 availability across multiple channels, including email, live chat, and phone support. They also offer tailored support add-ons with varying response times depending on the package chosen. Proactive monitoring and customization support enhance their service, especially appealing to businesses requiring prompt technical assistance.

Netim, on the other hand, provides customer service from 8am to 6pm (UTC +2), Monday to Saturday, and commits to a response time within 4 business hours. Their multilingual support team (English and French) can be reached by sending a message. Though they have a more limited service window, the 30-day money-back guarantee adds a layer of reassurance for users.

Cloudways vs Netim: User feedback

User feedback for this hosting provider is predominantly positive, highlighting easy-to-use interface and robust customer support as key strengths. Users appreciate the intuitive platform, simplified server management, and various performance-boosting features, making it ideal for both personal and client projects. However, some users noted challenges for those with limited technical knowledge and expressed concerns about pricing, lack of email hosting, and occasional user interface issues. Overall, the strong support and fast, reliable performance make it a favored choice despite minor drawbacks.

Users generally appreciate this hosting provider for its competitive domain name registration pricing and the range of features offered. Customer service is positively highlighted, particularly in contrast to other providers that often rely on automated responses. However, some users find the user interface and experience subpar, making it difficult to navigate the site. Overall, the service is praised for its reliability and organizational tools, especially for keeping multiple sites up and running efficiently.

Cloudways vs Netim: FAQ